Another One

Lacy had just come back from picking up Brandon and Allison from Mary's house after Lacy had had a doctor's appointment earlier that day, and Phil had been at the gym. Doing gym things. Anyway.

Mary had given Brandon and Allison some new fruit cups that she wanted them to try and tell her if they liked them or not. Allison's cup consisted of pears, Brandon's of peaches.

Ally saw Phil walk in the house and was laying on the couch, holding her stomach. "Daddy?" she called hoarsely, feeling her throat start to close up. Of course, she had no idea how to tell him, 'my throat is closing up.' She's only one. "Tummy hurts."

Phil put his gym bag down and looked over at Allison confused. "Tummy hurts?" he asked. "Did you eat too much today?" he asked as he went by her.

"Gramma..." Wheeze. "Gave me furt (fruit)..." When Phil got closer, he'd see that her neck was red with hives.

When Phil reached her, he saw her neck and heard the way she sounded. "Holy crap." he said, then picked her up. "Lacy!" he called out.

"Daddy..." She started to cry when he picked her up. Now she knew something was wrong. Her cries came out in short gasps as she struggled to breathe, her wheezing becoming more apparent. "D..D.." Gasp. "D..dad.." More wheezing. She couldn't stop crying because she was too scared, and that only made it harder for her to breathe.

Lacy had heard Phil yell and came down with Brandon. "Wha-" She saw Allison crying, struggling to breathe, and her arms and neck were red. "Holy.. what happened?!" she asked as she rushed down the stairs and then put Brandon down, going over Allison.

"N..n..no brief (breathe).." Allison struggled to get out, still crying and still wheezing.

"We need to get her to the hospital now." he said."Grab some stuff, we're leaving."

Lacy nodded and rushed to get a jacket for Brandon and her wallet.

"Ally okay?" Brandon asked as Lacy hastily put his coat on.

"She's fine," she said, her tone showing that she obviously was not okay. She rushed downstairs.

"No...brief.. Daddy..." Allison got out.

(Why are you not at class)

"We're going to take you to get better." he said as he put on a sweater for Allison. Then he headed out. "Let's go."

Lacy went to the garage and opened the garage door before putting Brandon in his car seat.

He put Allison in her car seat as well, then hopped into the driver's seat.

As soon as they got to the hospital, Lacy hit the ground running. She got Brandon out in one arm and let him walk with Phil, while gathering Allison up and all but running into the hospital, looking for the emergency room.

Phil walked in with Brandon, following Lacy.

"What's wrong with Ally?" Brandon asked as he followed Phil, holding his hand as Lacy got the attention of a nurse and explained Ally's situation to them.

"It sounds like an allergic reaction," the nurse said, looking at Allison's face that was starting to redden from the lack of oxygen.

"Then do something!" Lacy told her as the nurse just stared at her daughter. "She. Can't. Breathe!"

Nurse looked at Lacy a little startled before grabbing a clipboard for her and taking Allison as a trade off. "We'll tell you as soon as we figure out what's wrong." She said before leaving.

"I don't know." Phil told Brandon. "She said she can't breathe." he said as watched Lacy with the nurse and saw her take Allison. "They're gonna check her out?" he asked Lacy.

"They have to." She sighed. "Fuckin' nurse was just staring at her instead of taking her for treatment." She muttered and started to fill out the papers for Allison.

"Well at least you said something." he said.

"Fuckin' people don't know how to do their fucking jobs," she continued to rant lowly as she finished filling out Allison's papers. "My kid's turning purple from lack of oxygen and all she can do is stare like a god damn moron. I could have stared at her like an idiot at home, for free, instead of paying them thousands of dollars for it. Fucking idiots."

Brandon stared at his mom wide eyed. "Daddy, mommy mad."

He chuckled a bit at Brandon and nodded. "Very mad. People weren't taking care of Allison." he told him. "I know, these people are ridiculous here." he told Lacy.

"I fucking hate hospitals." Since chances were, she'd find herself in one in a few months. "I just want my kid to be okay, is that a crime?"

"Absolutely not."

She sighed and put her head in her hands, shaking her head. "She said it might be an allergic reaction to something."

He put Brandon in his lap as he sat next to Lacy and rubbed her back. "I wonder to what. She's not allergic to anything we've given her."

"If I knew what she was allergic to, I wouldn't have given it to her in the first place," she snapped unintentionally. Didn't mean to, but right now she was blaming herself.

"Don't blame yourself." he told her. "The good thing is that we're going to find out and she's going to be okay." he nodded.

"We don't know that she's going to be okay." She sighed and looked up at him. Brandon had long since dozed off on Phil's chest. "She was burning up. She had hives. She couldn't breathe, Punk." she looked away, remaining pretty calm, considering all that had happened. "So no, I don't know if she's going to be okay."